Sociology Study Guide (2014-15 Glenn)

The Tukano Indians of Brazil greet people by asking if they have bathed today. The Yanomamo rubbed their hands over the body of an anthropologist when they first met. In Korea, beckoning with the index finger is only done with cats and dogs. These are examples used in the text to demonstrate that:

deviance is relative.

A norm stipulated and enforced by government bodies is called a(n):

law

Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King, Jr. were both considered deviant and criminal in their lifetimes but are not considered deviant and criminal today. This illustrates that definitions of deviance and crime

change over time.

From a sociological standpoint

everyone is deviant in one social context or another.

The sociological term for non-normative behavior that departs from expected behavior is _____.

deviance

According to the text, deviance and crime

are defined differently in different historical periods

Whether a particular act is considered deviant or not depends upon the _____ definition of the behavior.

social

A _____ is a means of showing disapproval of deviance.

negative sanction

Mild sanctions such as raising eyebrows or ostracism, are called _____

informal punishment

When people are _____ they are negatively evaluated because of a marker that distinguishes them from others

stigmatized

When people receive severe punishment because they broke a law they receive _____.

formal punishment

Which of the following is not a dimension for determining types of deviance and crime?

whether or not the acts are considered deviant in other places

Coca-Cola got its name because, in the early 1900s, the soda contained a derivative of cocaine. Now cocaine is an illegal drug because

its perceived harmfulness changed.

People disagree about whether smoking marijuana should be considered a crime, especially since it may have therapeutic value in treating cancer or pain associated with cancer. This highlights which dimension for the classification of deviance and crime?

degree of public agreement about whether an act should be considered deviant

The _____ is the major source of statistics on crime in the U.S.

Uniform Crime Reports

Many crimes are not incorporated in the major crime indexes published by the FBI. Indeed, several types of crimes are excluded. These excluded crimes are often _____.

victimless crimes

Crimes that involve violations of the law in which no victim steps forward and is identified are called _____.

victimless crimes

Self-report surveys

find 2 to 3 times the rate of less serious crime than official statistics.

Rates of crime are

he number of crimes committed in a given crime category per 100,000 population.

Between 1960 and 1992, the United States experienced roughly a _____ increase in the rate of violent crime, including murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

500 percent

FBI crime statistics show that since 1990

the rates for all forms of major crime began to fall.

Which of the following is not a factor in explaining the decline of crime in the 1990s?

decreased police surveillance results in fewer arrests on record

Which of these is not consider an explanation for lower crime rates after the 1990s?

tougher penalties and incarceration of more criminals

A controversial finding among some researchers is that the recent decline in crime started nineteen years after

abortion was legalized.

The sociological term for the process of ensuring conformity through the use of punishments and rewards is _____.

social control

Which of these statements regarding gender and crime is false?

women are rapidly catching up with, and will soon outpace men in terms of rate of arrest

How do sociologists explain the increasing rate of crime among young females in recent decades?

less strict imposition of conventional norms for femininity

The age cohort that is the most crime-prone is _____.

15-19 year-olds

Most crime is committed by

people who haven’t reached middle age

Which of the following is not a factor in the disproportionately high arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates of African Americans?

geographical distribution

n 2009 about _____ of the prison population consisted of African Americans, who comprise about 12 percent of the total U.S. population.

42 percent

Statistical bias in the way that crime statistics are collected is due largely to the absence of data on white-collar crimes in the official crime indexes. This makes it appear as if

blacks commit a higher proportion of all crimes than they actually do.

Which of these statements regarding race and the criminal justice system is false?

the rate of imprisonment for young white men and young black men is equal

A crimes that are generally committed on the job by people with respectability and high social status are called _____.

What kind of crimes are committed disproportionately by people from the lower classes?

street crime

Which of these is not one of the reasons on which most sociologists agree, for the disproportionately high arrest, conviction, and incarceration rates of African Americans?

African Americans tend to be more criminal than whites

Today, the United States government spends _____ times more on drug control than it did in 1980.

20

A major consequence of the War on Drugs in the U.S. since the 1980s is

a dramatic increase in the incarceration rate for non-violent offenders

Which of the following is the most cost effective drug policy?

drug prevention and treatment

In regards to the controversial policy of legalizing at least some drugs,

Howard Becker found that in order to become a habitual marijuana user one must

pass through a three-stage learning process.

Howard Becker’s research on the process of becoming a marijuana user is an application of which type of theory?

symbolic interactionism

The perspective of _____ would acknowledge that the type of deviance or crime available in the social environment will influence the type of deviance or crime a delinquent youth becomes engaged in.

symbolic interactionism

When terms like “deviant,” “criminal,” and “con” become attached to individuals they are called _____.

labels

Which theoretical perspective is most focused on learning and labeling deviant and criminal roles?

symbolic interactionism

Labeling theory holds that deviance results

not just from the actions of the deviant but also from the responses of others.

Durkheim’s controversial claim that deviance is actually beneficial for society is part of the _____ perspective on deviance and crime.

functionalist

Which of these is not one of the positive functions of deviance first described by Durkheim?

policing deviance and crime is functional for the economy of a population

A point illustrated in the film Easy A that is related to Durkheim’s thinking but was not made by Durkheim is that

norm-breakers can provide outsiders with the opportunity to become insiders.

The theory of deviance and crime that emphasizes the disparity between the value placed on success and the opportunities for achieving it is called _____.

strain theory

The theory of deviance and crime that emphasizes the disparity between the value placed on success and the opportunities for achieving it was introduced by _____.

Robert Merton

According to Robert Merton, which of the following social types would accept cultural goals but replace the conventional means with alternative means of achieving them?

innovator

Although it is often difficult to achieve the material success that is so highly valued in American culture, most people accept the strain and adhere to the social norms. These people are considered _____ within the theory of Robert Merton.

conformists

If a gang member says that a crime victim “had it coming to him,” the gang member is using a(n) _____.

justification

The creation of justifications and rationalizations, such as an appeal to higher loyalties or condemning those who pass judgment on them, enables criminals to

clear their consciences and commit crimes.

A major criticism of the functionalist perspective on deviance is that it

overstates the relationship between crime and social class.

The sociological term for the ability to carry out one’s will against the resistance of others is _____.

power

Which theory focuses on the power and influence of the wealthy and elites in defining those with less power as deviant and criminal?

Which of these does not explain why the rich and powerful are not prosecuted as often or as harshly as those of other social classes?

the white-collar crimes committed by higher status people are more difficult to detect because they occur in private

Which theory contends that criminals are those likely to have few social attachments, few legitimate opportunities, weak conventional beliefs, and few involvements in their community?

Travis Hirschi argued that adolescents are more prone to deviance and crime because

Which of these is not one of the types of social control Hirschi argued was lacking in juveniles prone to deviance.

involvements in conventional institutions

_____ sociologists have argued that gender-based inequality has been influential in definitions of crime and its prosecution.

Feminist

After 1970, more attention was brought to crimes against women that had been largely overlooked previously. New laws brought attention to date rape and marital rape, as well as sexual harassment. What is the explanation for these changes?

women achieved greater status within the family, employment and other social institutions

A person who drinks too much is more likely to be treated rather than imprisoned. This is an example of _____.

medicalization of deviance

During the 1970s and 1980s psychiatrists and other doctors, and lobbyists and advocates debated what “conditions”, such as homosexuality, obesity and post-traumatic stress disorder, should be diagnosed as mental disorders. What does this illustrate about deviance?

the medicalization of deviance is partly a social and political process

How has the diagnosis of mental illness changed since the 19th century?

today Americans are more comfortable turning their problems into medical or psychological conditions than in an earlier century

Depriving people of their freedom by putting them in prison is

considered less inhumane than other forms of punishment, within industrialized societies.

Which of the following is false in regards to prisons in the U.S.?

as society has become modern, revenge is no longer a motivation for prisons

In 2009, about _____ people were incarcerated in state and federal prisons in the United States.

2.4 million

What country has the highest rate of incarceration, more than any place else in the world?

the United States

In recent years, the American public, lawmakers, and officials in the criminal justice system have been motivated by strong fears that crime poses a grave and immediate threat to society. What is the sociological term for this condition?

a moral panic

Which of these statements about social control and criminal justice in the U.S. is false?

along with most of the world, the U.S. abolished the death penalty when it lost support among most of the population

Which of these statements regarding capital punishment is false?

capital punishment saves taxpayers money in the long run

Crime is less relative than other types of deviance.

false

Some forms of deviance are beneficial for society

true

All deviant acts general receive some form of punishment, even if it is very mild.

false

rime is classified in terms of how much actual harm it does to society.

false

The source of most social problems is behavior that is inherently criminal or deviant.

false

The Uniform Crime Reports of the FBI are not an accurate representation of all illegal activity in the U.S.

true

The Uniform Crime Reports and National Incident-Reporting System are fairly complete sources of data on crime in the U.S.

false

The rate of crime has been increasing over the past several decades.

false

Self-report surveys are an effective means of gathering data on victimization in the U.S.

true

The recent economic recession has created a dramatic increase in crime rates.

false

Improvements in women’s position in society have resulted in increased awareness and prosecution of crimes of violence against women.

true

White-collar crime is very costly for society, so it is aggressively searched out. This results in many prosecutions and still more convictions.

false

There is no longer a gender gap in arrests; women are now arrested as often as men.

false

One must learn how to get high, and also to recognize the effects of marijuana. These things do not just occur “naturally.”

true

If a person is exposed to more deviant experiences than nondeviant experiences, there is a good chance that person will learn to become a deviant.

true

Deviant acts help non-deviants reaffirm the boundaries of acceptable behavior.

true

One of the positive aspects of the death penalty is that because it is so severe it is applied in a just and consistent way for all persons convicted of crimes.

false

After trials and appeals, a typical execution costs the taxpayer six times as much as a 40-year stay in a maximum-security prison.

true

Putting more people in prison and imposing tougher penalties for crime increases crime rates.

false

Being in prison often results in inmates behaving even more violently.

true

Most crime is committed disproportionately by people from lower classes.

false

In the story of the Titanic what was/were the consequence(s) of social inequality?

members of the upper class were given a better chance of survival

Conceptualizing inequality in society as hierarchical layers of people is called _____.

social stratification

Social stratification is the term for

the way society organizes people into layers based on their resources and status.

5) The assets you own and control comprise your _____.

wealth

6) Which of these is the best example of wealth?

a house that is largely paid for

7) The reason that sociologists know little about the distribution of wealth is because

Americans are not required to report their wealth.

8) Since the 1980, what has to wealth inequality within the U.S.?

it has been increasing

9) What is the relationship between wealth and income?

there is only a very weak correlation between wealth and income

10) What you are able to earn in a given period of time is called your _____.

income

11. Which of these statements about income is false?

the U.S. has less income inequality than most other countries

12. Students of social stratification often divide populations into categories of unequal size that differ in their lifestyle. These are called _____.

13. The upper-upper class in the U.S. has been considered as two different groups. The whose money comes largely from inheritance has been termed _____.

old money

14. Within the upper-upper class in the U.S., the wealth of “old money” is based on _____; the wealth of “new money” is based on _____.

inheritance; talent

15. In recent decades a substantial number of people have entered the upper-upper class. These people are sometimes termed _____.

new money

16. The entire middle class consists of what percentage of U.S. households?

65 percent

17. Over a lifetime, an individual may experience considerable movement up or down the stratification system. Sociologists call this movement _____.

vertical social mobility

18. Sociologists find that the overall trend in the United States is one of _____.

19. In the popular film, Sweet Home Alabama, Melanie (played by Reese Witherspoon) returns to her husband in the rural town where she grew up, instead of divorcing to marry the son of the mayor of New York City. This example illustrates the fact that most Americans:

marry within their own social class and subculture

20. In 2006, how much of the country’s income did the top fifth of the U.S. population earn?

21. During periods of economic restructuring and recession in the U.S.,

amounts of upward and downward mobility become more equal.

22. In order to make meaningful comparisons, sociologists divide the population into five different groups of equal size. These are called _____

income strata

23. In 1974, the top fifth of households in the U.S. earned about 43 percent of the income. Today, that same percentage of households earns about _____ percent of the country’s total income.

50

24. In the U.S., throughout the last quarter century, income inequality has _____.

increased

25. Variations in income and wealth between countries are termed _____.

global inequality

26. When sociologists compare the differences in the gap between rich and poor within countries, they are studying _____.

cross-national variations in internal stratification

27. The poorest countries in the world are located in ____

sub-Sahara Africa

28. Which of these statements about global inequality is false?

all of the world’s richest countries are the U.S., Canada, or countries of Western Europe

29. About what portion of the world’s population is without electricity?

one-third

30. According to the United Nations Indicators of Human Development presented in the text, which country has the highest life expectancy and rate of adult literacy?

Norway

31. Which of the world’s continents has the highest percentage of the population with Internet access?

Australia

32. Which continent has the lowest percentage of the population with Internet access?

Africa

33. ____ is the measure of income inequality that ranges from zero to one. It measures the level of internal stratification, and allows researchers to compare inequality between societies.

The Gini index

34. A Gini index of zero indicates that

every household in the country earns the same amount of money.

35. A Gini index of one indicates that

a single household earns the entire national income.

36. The U.S. has a Gini Index of about _____.

37. In general, over the course of history, as societies became richer and more complex, what has been the pattern in terms of levels of social inequality?

38. During the recent period of postindustrialism, social inequality has increased in the U.S. and the U.K., but remained fairly stable in countries such as France, Germany, and Canada. How did these countries achieve a stable level of inequality?

rough tax and welfare policies

39. Which type of society has the longest history of existence?

horticulture

40. The construction of the first agricultural settlements was based on _____.

41. The use of small hand tools to cultivate plants is known as _____.

horticulture

42. The domestication of animals is a characteristic of which type of society?

pastoralism

43. In early agrarian societies, if you were born a peasant, you and your children would remain peasants; if you were born a lord, you and your children would remain lords. This is an example of stratification based on _____.

ascription

44. f you are not wealthy, but do well in school and are able to obtain a very high paying job, your social position would be based on _____

achievement

45. In agrarian India, _____ divided society into groups and subgroups arranged in a rigid hierarchy, and required members to work in occupations reserved for those groups.

castes

46. Apartheid in South Africa is an example of an industrialized _____ system.

caste

47. The tendency of industrialization to lower the level of social stratification

was not apparent in the first stages of industrial growth.

48. Which one of the following was not one of the factors that decreased social inequality after the initial stages of industrialization?

Government implemented tax and welfare programs that took money from the wealthier classes and gave it to the lower classes.

49. After the initial period of industrialization

birth was no longer destiny in terms of one’s social position.

50. The trend most responsible for the gap between the rich and poor increasing over the past fifty years is

technological factors that have created new jobs and made others more routine and less skilled.

51. Marx argued that as the capitalist economy matured

the capitalist class would get smaller and richer, while the working class grew larger and poorer

52. Marx believed that workers would ultimately see themselves as belonging to the same exploited class. He called this growing awareness _____.

class-consciousness

53. Marx called those who do not own the “means of production” and who work for wages _____.

the proletariat

54. Marx called members of the class that owned the factories, land, and tools, or “means of production,” _____.

the bourgeoisie

55. Which of the following false in regards to the consequences of industrial society?

Communism took root and developed in industrialized countries.

56. The idea that some jobs, such as that of a judge, require more education and longer training periods and should thus receive more money and prestige, is central to which theory of stratification?

functionalism

57. According to Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore, society needs to create incentives to motivate the most talented people to train for the most important jobs. This is a core assumption within the _____ perspective on social stratification.

58. Once people attain high-class standing they use their power to maintain their position and promote the interests of their families regardless of how talented their children are. For example, inheritance allows parents to transfer wealth to children regardless of their talent. Thi

poses a problem for the functional theory of stratification.

59. Which of these is not part of the criticism of the functionalist view of social stratification?

people in higher status positions must pay more for their education and so deserve higher salaries

60. Class position in a stratification system is determined by _____, according to Max Weber.

market situation

61. Weber referred to _____ that differed from each other based on their prestige and social honor.

status groups

62. Which of the following is not one of the four main social classes for Weber?

members of the intellectual elite, such as college professors

63. _____ are not just political groups but, more generally, organizations that seek to impose their will on others.

Parties

64. The idea that one can head a military, scientific, or other bureaucracy without being rich, just as one can be rich and still have to endure low prestige, illustrates the importance of _____.

parties

65. According to Weber, the most accurate way to describe a society’s stratification system is

to explore the mutual influence of party, status, and class.

66. The approach to studying social stratification that examines the relative effects of family inheritance and individual merit on occupational achievement is called the _____.

67. According to Blau and Duncan, stratification in America is based mainly on

individual achievement

68. Researchers Blau and Duncan created the _____ by combining data on income and education.

socioeconomic index of occupational status (SEI)

69. How did Blau and Duncan envision the stratification system in the U.S.?

as a continuous hierarchy of hundreds of different levels

70. _____.

71.Researchers have found that mobility within a single generation is _____.

generally very modest

72. The late 19thand early 20thcenturies witnessed a decline in agriculture and the rise of manufacturing, resulting in many fewer farmers and a corresponding surge in the number of factory workers. Mobility due to such changes in jobs is called _____.

individual mobility

structural mobility

73. Blau and Duncan’s study of social stratification has been criticized from many perspectives. However, most of the criticisms agree that

it ignores the degree to which mobility is limited by gender, race, and class

74. Which of these statements about the impact of race and gender on status attainment is false?

white men and minority group members with similar levels of education and family background generally achieve equal status

75. The percentage of Americans who fall below the poverty threshold is called _____.

the poverty rate

76. In 2009, about what percentage of the U.S. population was living below the official poverty threshold?

14 percent

77. In addition to economic conditions, the text argues that changes in the poverty rate are related to

78. What was the immediate result of the War on Poverty during the 1960s?

the poverty rate dropped to the lowest it has ever been

79. When was the first time that the U.S. government took responsibility for providing basic sustenance for those unable to do so for themselves?

during the Great Depression of the 1930s

80. Which of these statements about poverty and welfare in the U.S. is true?

Female-headed households make up a minority of total poor families.

81. Which of these statements about American attitudes toward social class is false?

a majority of Americans favor government taking action to reduce inequality between the classes

82. The benefits of having wealth include better health status.

True

83. There is much less data available on wealth than on income.

True

84. There is a very strong correlation between wealth and income.

False

85. Policies to redistribute income are the best way to end economic inequality.

false

86. Income inequality has been declining in the United States for the past quarter of a century.

false

87. The recent economic recession has resulted in there being more downward than upward mobility in the U.S.

false

88. The world’s poorest countries are distributed somewhat evenly around the world.

false

89. The U.S. has a low level of internal stratification compared with the rest of the world.

false

90.In the recent period, the level of social inequality in postindustrial countries has increased.

false

91. Until about 12,000 years ago there was no real social stratification in human societies.

true

92. Improvements in technology and social organization within industrial society dramatically increased the level of social stratification.

false

93. Marx expected communism to take root in countries where industry and capitalism were the most developed.

true

94. Some of Marx’s predictions about the development of capitalism turned out to be wrong.

true

95. Functionalism argues that because all occupations are necessary for the smooth functioning of society, social stratification is unfair and unjustified.

false

96. From the point of view based on Weber’s three bases of social inequality there is nothing inevitable or deterministic about the level of stratification in a society.

true

97.Peter Blau and Otis Dudley Duncan claimed that stratification in America is based mainly on ascription and inheritance rather than individual achievement and merit.

false

98. If you compare people with the same level of education and similar family backgrounds, women and minority groups tend to attain the same status as white men do.

false

99. The overwhelming majority of poor people are African or Hispanic American single mothers with children.

false

1. The text suggests that shipwrecks are used as a backdrop in literature and film for stories involving social class differences because

Which of the following is NOT a string instrument?

Violin

Viola

Double Bass

Cello

Glockenspeil

Glockenspeil

Beat is the regular, recurrent pulsation that divides music into equal units of time. true or false